Halpern rejoins team

Jeff Halpern worked out on his own prior to the Canadiens regular practice in Brossard and then joined his teammates albeit with a no-contact jersey. He’s expected to accompany the team to Boston but in doubtful for Game 1 Thursday.

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Looks like I’m going to miss most of tomorrow night’s game — unless there’s a delay after Desharnais pile drives Chara into a stanchion — so I’ll have to watch Sports Centre to catch clips of the Habs’ first four goals.
And Montreal can win if the players:
— stay away from stupid penalties
— make the most of their power play opportunities, which they can create by driving to the net, for one thing
— cut down on unforced errors and giveaways that leave you scratching your head
— rise to the occasion the way Price is sure to (and, Carey, don’t try anything fancy with your passes);
The longer the game remains tight, the more the pressure shifts onto Boston and we all know how well the Bruins handle pressure.

Habs take game one 3-1 with Darche getting the ENer. Game two We win in OT 3-2 Moen has a puck go off his chinpad and past Thomas. Game three is a cake-walk…4-1 a Ruin scores with under a minute salvaging some hope. Game four unfortunately our Habs take their foot off the gas and lose 5-2. But game five is the sweetest game of all….Gio gets a “hatty” and Gomez Gets five points.
oh and Chara’s head explodes.

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This may be counter to the notion of team unity but I was trying to figure the Gomez contract situation out in my head and thought the group could provide some insight …

If the Habs buy out Gomer at the end of next year, he would have 2 years remaining on his contract. Even though his cap hit is $7,357,143 / year (from Habsworld) he would have $10 million in remaining salary for 2012-13 and 2013-14. Since he is over 26, the buyout value would be two thirds of the remaining contract -$6.67 million. That would be stretched out over 4 years, meaning a cap hit of 1.67 million / year through 2015-16. If the cap goes up every year, it becomes less and less significant.

Is my math right???? If so, surely Molsons can swallow $6 million bucks to do the right thing ffor the club. They make that up with two extra playoff home games. Does that mean next year is the last we see of the new #11. What could we do with an extra $5.7 mil in cap space a year? Hmmm ….

but you need to weigh what your currently have and what you could get. plus a cap hit in years 3 and 4 may seem small but that’s 1 or 2 players.
if the habs decide to want the cap space over the player i prefer they stick him in the AHL or send him to Europe – habs pay more but it frees up the entire cap space and leaves no cap hit in years 3 and 4

Mats26
Your calculatiosn are right on…
If they can’t get rid of him next yaer that is what they will do
Another option is sign richards and put gomez in hamilton for a yaer before buying him out like the rangers did with redden but Habs organization doesn’t operate that way

I think it would be so much easier to trade him along with a pick or significant player to a low end team. There’s no way the Habs’ organization would send him to the AHL, and I find it hard to conceive them buying out a player which is so well respected in the locker room.
Mind you, I think it’s to early to write off what Gomez brings to a playoff team. He has proven his whole career that spring is when he brings “it”. And I’m not the type of person to give up on a player after one BAD regular season. Having said that, I don’t have to sign his pay-cheque.

I really wish that Nigel Dawes had (a) been kept around for a longer trial and (b) that he had shown much much better when he was in the line-up.

He looked very stocky and strongly built and should not have been a player who was afraid to show some grit against the Bruins.

I am optimistic but I really believe one bigger or stronger type forward will have given JM enough options with ‘line juggling’ to offset the B’s.

White I think will play his part. It’s just that after he fights he’s lost for at least some of the game.
Darche will be the unsung Canadiens hero in this series. Mara will probably stand up against the B’s but his game just isnt at the level expected. And SOPEL too is disappointing.

Spacek is experienced and skilled so he may raise his game.

If Subban stars in this series then HABS win regardless. But I dont know a) if he has (yet) the adaptability to play as controlled as JM (wisely) wants the team to do and still be an offensive force.

A good buddy of mine here in Winnipeg played against him in junior hockey. I don’t remember the score (Dawes was losing) but he came up to my buddy and asked him to fight to give fans of his team something to cheer about.

* Son’s soccer practices are now Tuesday and Thursday night from 8:00p-9:30pm. The only guy happier about this than me will be him when he gets home from school today and is informed of this wonderful development. We will probably break it to him intervention-style.

* Good to hear Halpern’s workin’ his way back. A system centered around puck possession begins and ends with faceoff circle proficiency.

* Really great piece by Berky. But, as he notes, Tommy’s still a lock for the Vezzy.

* I’m startin’ to buy into the notion Hab fans do actually suffer from some innate persecution complex. If it’s any consolation, and at the risk of bein’ repetitive: The path of least resistance suggests pundits will favour the Broonz – frankly, I don’t hear anyone with any real cred callin’ for a rout – and, much more importantly, playoff predictions and a twonie buys you a two-dollar bag of peanuts. When it comes to somethin’ like bein’ a sports fan, as it is with many other related facets of life, the moment you stop worryin’ about what other people think can be quite liberatin’.

* Was recently ramblin’ on about how I figured that, despite all the talk about Brawn v Brains and Speed v Bleed, this one was really goin’ to be all about Pricey v Tommy. It’s not a new notion, by any measure, just one I firmly believe in. Based on what I read this mornin’, Stubbs concurs. Always thought that kid was a sharp cat. The only guy who doesn’t see it that way is Price, you know, everyone’s gotta contribute, it’s a team sport, etc. That Carey…what a kidder. Pressure’s on, baby!

* The heaviest dose of pressure will, however, be on Claude J. Although I’m not willin’ to bet that even an ECF appearance will be enough to preserve his current employment status, I am willin’ to risk a basket o’ clams that a fail at the hands of the Habs will see him tossed. And, frankly, after that mouthbreather’s stunt at the end of the Beatdown, he’ll deserve it almost as much as that now-unemployed DoucheSlick™ in Dallas.

If it’s a battle between Price and Thomas then HABS win.. period. Cause it means Habs are playing WELL with enough scoring chances to have Thomas be a big factor. And no way does Thomas compare to Price.. regardless of the stats etc.

If you mean it will be PRICE against the B’s like it was basically Halak against the Penguins and Caps in last years’s playoffs .. then I wont be surprised.

I am not saying Halak won by himself but it certainly was not a goaltending battle in either of those series.

I mean, I could be well wrong, but when one considers the outcome of the season series, with all its twists and turns, skater domination went both ways.

As I noted the other day, the real key to at least gettin’ the series to play out this way is homin’ in on Chara’s weakpoint, and that is his tendency to become overemotional, lose focus, and, by extension, efficacy. Guys like Gomer (this is his opportunity to redeem somethin’ for himself), Gionta (who has a history with Chara) and Pleks (who’s carved out a nice little niche for himself as a s***-disturber) will be instrumental.

Re: soccer schedule conflicts…look at it this way, in 20 years what memories would you rather have as you ease into old age; sharing precious moments with your son or a one-in-a-million Stanley Cup run? It’s all about family JD. ‘Course, I consider Hal Gill to be like a brother, but that’s just me

Have the PVR. And every time I try to go that route, some otherwise well-meanin’ individual invariably blows it.

The basic problem is it is virtually impossible to be among the other parents pickin’ up their sons without the topic of the Habs comin’ up. Given the playoff environment, I wouldn’t even be able to sneak into the field’s parkin’ lot without someone comin’ over to chat about that night’s score/outcome.

I’m thinkin’ I should probably find a way to temporarily alienate myself from the other parents via some horryfin’ anti-social act. I’ll make peace with them after the Habs’ Stanley Cup parade.

Looking forward to CBC without Leaf involvement but we still have Dum Cherry to promote his Bruins – colours he will be wearing this time? Nice try Boone, hope your article made you feel better….won’t have any effect. Yesterday on The Fan Prime Time , McGowen says Scott Morrison, former King of CBC Sports, had told him that CBC pays NHL $100M for tv rights. Asked how much more they would pay if Winnipeg and Quebec City teams were added he said not 1 more dime. But, if a 2nd team was added on Toronto, they would pay 50% more – $!50M. Anyone wonder how CBC has the balls to promote Leaf hockey to keep it interesting??? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Defensive pairings should be:
Gill/Subban; Hammrlik/Wiz; Picard/Mara;Spacek as 7th defenseman.
Sopel has playoff experience etc but he is too slow and does not compensate with any real toughness… least what I have seen.

I think Game one should be approached with speed and skill and I like Picard for that better than Sopel.

I really doubt JM will leave Spacek as the 7th D, unless he was atrocious in practice.
I agree that Sopel has not impressed, and I would wager that his injured hand/arm is at issue there.
Gotta wonder you chose why Picard over Weber also.

i would keep picard in since he is one of the few habs who can drop the gloves , as we saw he held his own against sean avery (thats not saying that much) but the more physical players we have for this series will go a long way at least defensively.

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That’s what we call a statistical anomaly. You honestly think he’s going to get near that % again? Perry had 50G with a 17.2% efficiency. Crosby was at about 20% when he was playing at a level we hadn’t seen in the NHL in years.

I don’t really have a dog in the fight, I just thought it was shocking to see that stat and of course the sample size is relevant. The number I would like to see if I had time to research is his shot#s here and in Nashville as well as %.

My macro point is yeah SK was a problem here. But now he’s a stud in Nashville. Ok, so what are the variables? New team, new coach, did SK change his attitude?

Is this one more example of JM not being as good with rookies as some other coaches? I’m just asking.

LA: why this myth of Martin “ruining” young players has grown the legs it has is a mystery to me. Did Martin ruin Pacioretty, Subban, Desharnais, and Eller? Let’s remember what ended little Sergie’s career in Montreal: he refused to board the team plane. Why? No one knows, but perhaps it’s because Martin had the temerity to expect his players to act like professionals both on and off the ice. Sergie’s adolescent tantrums punched his ticket elsewhere.

If I were GM… well, thank you, here are the first 3 things I would do.

1. That we play in both ends of the freaking rink.
2. That we know where the slot is and go there.
3. That we have players who have balls, not girl-hockey check cashers. I’d make the team watch videos of Mike McPhee, Skruds, Dougie Gilmore, Craig Ludwig… luckily the list is long. And oh yeah, Chris Nilan
4. That we are very careful grooming our rookies and bringing them up properly. What the f are they learning sitting on the bench.
5. My first act would be to give Gomez a bus ticket and a sandwich. I’ll pay.

PK Subban has scored more goals than any other rookie defencemen since Phaneuf had 20 in 05-06 and he had close to 200 more minutes of PP TOI compared to PK. His ability to play the complete game has also come a long way under JM, including learning the toughest of defensive duties, the penalty kill, a role that Guy Boucher never instructed him in.

Gotta love all the first round predictions by all the “analysts” and “experts”. 8 out of 9 of the contributors for Puck Daddy on yahoo have the Bruins winning the series. Justin Bourne is such an incredible moron that he believes it will be a sweep for the Bruins. Hell, even 5 out of the 9 have the Canucks and Bruins in the finals.

All this does for me is hate the Bruins and Canucks and all the “experts” even more. Screw them all, its us against the world and we’re going to surprise everyone again, like we have many times before.

***Note: I put zero weight in the predictions of hockey pundits. But I use them as fuel for my Habs fire. And its burning red hot right now. Drop the puck already!

Since Hockey Inside Out is apparently powerless to block this spammer or at least delete her crap, spam posts, is there anyway that one can block individual users from showing up, from within one’s own account, as in an option to “hide all posts from spammalammadingdong lmlb68″?

Ok, look at line 1 – Cammalleri – Plekanec – Kostitsyn (not too bad)
line 2 – Gionta – Gomez – Pacioretty ( could be good )
line 3 – Pouliot – Desharnais – Darche/White ( Pouliot should be a scorer and DD is a good scorer but its not second line material just yet, also he is not a good grinder is in the middle can’t be second line but doesn’t have grit for third or fourth.)
line 4 – Moen – Halpern – Eller/Pyatt ( i like pyatt plays good does his job but is only 5’11 and hard to be small grinder, Eller is way more effective on center but not good on face-offs.)

In my mind Eller should have been in the minors to help him and his center position. He has some talent, great speed and never gives up always fighting in corners, but one reason i think he was kept on the Habs is cuz many people pressured MTL and thought that Eller and Schultz for Halak was a bad trade. But it could be anything.

I haven’t thought about tomorrow’s game much until now, but I have to admit I’ve got pre-game jitters. Imagine how the players themselves feel?

Somehow, the Habs have had an amazing ability to surprise over the last 2 years. Most of this year, the surprises have been negative. But once in a while they come up with a spectacular display of puck control.

Could this been Jacques Martin’s strategy: to make the team unpredictable?

D is pretty good, although quite soft. Forwards lack depth and can’t compete with top teams. Centers are very weak production wise. Too one dimensional. Montreal is not near the bottom of the league in offense by accident.

Forwards can’t compete with top teams? Really? You’re one funny man. For a second I thought you were serious.
Do you realize that we’re not in the season anymore? And do you realize that this is now playoff hockey where ANYTHING can happen?

I’m not talking about what can and cannot happen in the playoffs. Shaker said Montreal’s lineup looked great and I said their forwards as a whole can’t compare with the top teams. Go look at Philly, Washington, Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin, Vancouver, Detroit, Tampa bay, Boston, Anaheim, San Jose , Chicago and tell me how the forwards match up. Montreal finished 24th in team offense this season, behind such teams as Toronto, Atlanta and Islanders. Enough said.

Mtl forwards as a whole may not compare to the top forwards of the teams you list.

However, Mtl has demonstrated it CAN compete against those teams. Mtl is successful when it plays its team game. The only other team on there which plays a similar style is Det. The others, except for Pitts scoring by committee lately, all count on a few big stars. Kane, Sharp, Toews. Ovy, Backstrom, Semin. When all healthy, Sid, Malkin. Stamkos, Vinny, Minny.

Mtl beat Chicago. Mtl beat the Sharks. Split the season series with the Bolts. Won the season series over Boston, 4-2. Beat the Canucks both times, including a shutout.

So, really, Mtl’s line-up DOES look great. It may not have big names, like the others, but plays with big heart. That’s what’s more important. It’s greater than the sum of its parts.

“Only a goalie can appreciate what a goalie goes through.” – Jacques Plante

I’m not talking about what can or cannot happen in the playoffs. Shaker said Montreal’s lineup looked great and I said their forwards as a whole are a lot worse than the top teams. Look at the forwards on teams such as Philly, Caps, Pittsburgh when healty, TBay, Boston, Detroit, San Jose, Vancouver, Anaheim and Chicago and tell me how they match up. Montreal was 24th this season in team offense, behind such teams as toronto, Atlanta and The Islanders. Enough said.

I agree,we can play alot better and now is the time.play to our strenghts,and just capitalize on our chances,play on your toes not your heals,we know what its going to be like in montreal,the fans will be going crazy,must get one or two in Boston…GO HABS

Only that healthy lineup, with Patches, proved several times that they can skate circle around the Bruins… AND push around Chara. Chara responded by breaking Patches’ neck. Without which, I would definitely like our chances, as I think Patches was our best scorer against Boston this season.

And I really don’t think Gill, Subban, and Gorges of being soft. They’re just not goons, which is what you’re really talking about.

I’m not talking about what can or cannot happen in the Playoffs. Shaker said Montreal’s lineup looked awesome and I said they’re forwards as a whole cannot compare to the top teams. Look at the forwards of teams like Philly, Caps, Pittsburgh when healthy, TBay, Boston, Detroit, Anaheim, San Jose, Vancouver and Chicago and tell me how they match up. Montreal finished 24th in team offense this season, behind such teams as Toronto, Atlanta and The Islanders. Enough said.